Category Archives: 1984-Present: The Legacy Years

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In November 2019, the classic Yamato saga expanded for the first time in ten years when Aquarius Algorithm debuted in the pages of Star Blazers/Yamato Premium Fan Club magazine. Written by Katsuya Takashima, it bridges the gap between Final Yamato and Resurrection.

As all longtime fans know, the Yamato music library is wide and deep with all sorts of variations and eclectica. Periodically, it becomes necessary to gather them all up in a single place and that time has come again. This collection includes releases through 2019.

From the pages of Showa 40 Man magazine: a nostalgic look back at two of Yamato‘s favorite characters. These twin essays from 2017 examine both Dessler and Sanada from the perspective of real-time viewers of the original saga.

Artist Masahiko Okura is among those whose creative passion was ignited by Yamato, which he brought to the saga itself from Final Yamato all the way through 2199. In this interview from Ship’s Log issues 6, he shares personal memories going all the way back to his first viewing.

Countless young artists were inspired by Yamato in their youth, but only a few rose to the ranks of those who would keep it alive as adults. Masahiko Okura is one of them, having contributed from 1983 to the present day, and as you’ll see in this interview, he hasn’t lost an ounce of passion in all that time.

The extraordinarily rare August 1994 issue of the locally-based LB Nakasu Communication magazine carried a Yamato cover story shortly before the saga was revived the first time with Yamato 2520 and the promise of Yamato Resurrection. Here we present two of the articles from that issue.

Just before Yamato reached its 20th anniversary in 1994, LB Nakasu Communication magazine published a rare cover story on its impending comeback. Its main feature article was this capsule history of Yamato‘s impact on Japan.

To commemorate a newly-recorded re-release of Kentaro Haneda’s Yamato Grand Symphony, the Japanese website Real Sound interviewed Conductor Naoto Otomo, who was intimately involved in its production since it was composed in 1984. Here he describes the conditions for its creation and its evolution since then.

Focus, a weekly gossip magazine published by Shinchosha, was a celebrity-and-scandal chaser that kept tabs on cultural turmoil. Yoshinobu Nishizaki wasn’t high on their list of targets, but they tagged him on at least two separate occasions. In the interest of complete record-keeping, here are both of their articles.

It is a little-known fact that Yamato 2199 Director Yutaka Izubuchi got his start very early when he participated in both Yamato III and Final Yamato as a fresh-faced newcomer. Here, he discusses his earliest experiences as both a fan and a staff member.

This magazine, aimed at the pocket of Japanese culture that was born in 1965, has featured many a thoughtful essay on Yamato. Here we present two from 2018 that focus on the “lost future” aspect of Series 1 and the life-changing emotional impact of Farewell and Series 2.

Ryusuke Hikawa, the original Yamato superfan, is a prominent voice in SF/anime fandom in Japan. This interview with him was published Showa 40 Man magazine Vol. 41 (Crete Publishing, January 2017) and places Yamato’s rise into a context seldom seen elsewhere.

Kazutaka Miyatake is a man of few words, but his pen speaks volumes. As the primary mecha designer of Series 1 and Farewell to Yamato, his work has dazzled us and set an industry standard for over 40 years. He reveals much in this interview with Showa 40 Man magazine, including the design genesis of the Comet Empire itself.

Before Space Battleship Yamato, there was New Battleship Yamato, conceived by the prolific author Ikki Kajiwara and published as both a novella and a manga in the early 60s. Then it vanished into history…until the summer of 2016 when it was revived to fly again. What kind of Yamato flew first? Find out here. (2 pages)

Journalist Hiroyuki Ota takes a broad perspective, sharing his own views as a fan and discussing how Yamato affected different generations as social philosophies evolved in the wake of World War II. It’s a unique, passionate look at the saga that could only come from the land of its origin.

In terms of Yamato music collecting, this was the single biggest release of 2015, a triple-disc treasure trove that followed in the wake of the 30-CD Sound Almanac series. It may be hard to imagine that anything had been left out, but the well goes deeper than everyone thought, including those who worked on it.

A complete record of Yamato publishing through present day. After the production years ended, many new categories of books put the saga into historical context while others pushed it forward with new interpretations. See this massive library all in one place with links to translated content and rare artifacts. [7 pages]

From the depths of forgotten history comes this exclusive look at a Space Battleship Yamato anime series that never came to be. Through a series of never-before-published development documents, witness the creation of an entirely different storyset 20 years after the original saga!

Starting in 2008, a year-in-review was written to look back at everything that happened in the ever-expanding world of Space Battleship Yamato; music, publishing, products, public events, and more. These articles map out the living-legend status of the original saga to confirm that Yamato is still alive and well.

Starting in July 2012, Columbia Japan provided a great gift to fans both new and old with this newly-remastered and upgraded reissue of the Yamato music catalog. Here we examine the second half of this monumental series with extensive liner notes, historical trivia, track listings, and more.

In the early 90s, an attempt to bring Yamato back to anime did not succeed. A dark period of bankruptcy and lawsuits followed, about which very little hard information is available – which makes this 1998 article from Comicbox magazine extremely valuable, giving us a rare look into a unique chapter of Yamato history.

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